Author: crimeshop

I don’t know how many of my readers have actually sat down and watched cell phone footage of the murder of George Floyd. I did watch it over the weekend and to be honest it has haunted me so deeply that I have been having trouble sleeping since then. I’ve studied my share of horrific murders and cold cases through the years and one moment during the murder of George Floyd affected me in a very profound way that I have yet to shake it.

It was George crying out for his mom as he lay dying and unable to breath. That cry brought me to tears, shaking me to the core, breaking both my heart and my soul. That cry was heard worldwide by moms, and unified in one stance together we stood and said enough is enough. In that moment we all unified and stood up as any mother would for George Floyd as if he were our own child.

We want Justice for George.

We demand Justice for George.

I’ve been to some of the protests, both peaceful and as the anarchy ensued during the night trying to help keep the peace, but no peace was to be had over the weekend. I do not condone looting, damaging property, violence, but I heard what people felt. Many of them are feeling many different pains if you listen.

But right now, the pain and suffering we need to address is the systemic racism here in the United States. Every single state in this country is standing unified together without the leader of the United States of American and we are demanding an end to the suffering and inequality of the African American’s who are citizens of our nation.

Our nation which we are part of together.

When my kids were little, they never knew racism, when I would watch them play with other little kids I noticed, just as I do with my grandchildren now, little kids, they don’t see race as they interact with other little kids. They are just happy, excited and delighted to meet new kids and to be able play with another little kid. They just see another little kid.

Racism is taught, hatred is taught.

It is time we stopped teaching children racism and hatred.

President George W Bush stepped forward and like a President helps heal his hurting nation, gave a beautiful speech the other day that encouraged peaceful protests, that encouraged us to call for change.

President Barack Obama yesterday, he did it again, like a President he stood to help lead a hurting nation, to heal and to demand change in constructive and peaceful ways. He urged us to be strong and to stand alongside the youth of this nation and to demand change.

I refer to both as President rather than Former US President to illustrate that they truly were and still are thought of leaders of this nation, something they both demonstrated with the thoughtful words of hope and inspiration they have delivered through this senseless tragedy.

Donald Trump, has made threats, hid in a bunker, rampaged on Twitter, called people weak, urged law enforcement to harm peaceful protesters and use a show of force to stop protests around the nation and has yet to offer help, support, words of healing, promise for change, empathy and leadership here. The White House is currently being sealed off, barriers being put into place by a coward, racist Donald Trump and an administration living in fear of the people they are currently letting down.

I urge all American’s to remember these defining childish, pathetic behaviors and moments Donald Trump has shown in the face of a crisis when November rolls around. He may be great when it comes to business and economy, but he truly strives to simply drive our nation apart because he has no empathy whatsoever. That is just as inhumane as the killing of innocent people of color.

And we the people are driving for change, we are forcing that to happen. All 50 states in this nation are demanding change, every race in this country is standing as we the people without a leader and we are demanding change. We are succeeding! Finally we are making it happen.

Through the years I stood for change as blacks were killed at the hands of cops or a white men. I’ve written about it so many times in the past and here we are again. When the change doesn’t happen, I can’t help but feel like I have failed in some way to make it happen.

When I attended a couple of the protests I heard the very words that I have written in the past spoken and cried out from the mouths of our nation’s youth who are demanding we end systemic racism once and for all and I couldn’t help but feel this is a deeply painful time for our nation and the world watching this unfold but in those moments I stood proud of the youth in this nation for having the courage to stand up and rise about the systemic racism we continue to see.

We can no longer tolerate hate, we can no longer accept and allow injustice, we can no longer accept systemic racism. This is America and we must fight for equal justice for everyone in America, No more white justice, no more black justice, no rich justice, no more poor justice, one system for all of the peoples in America.

We must put an end to white privilege and inequality in our nation.

When the leadership in the Whitehouse fails us, we the people must rise up to that challenge and drive the need for change in non-violent ways ourselves. The proof of that is today, look around we are heard and supported through state and local governments nationwide, we are being heard and supported worldwide.

To the racists on social media dropping the word ni*g*r, sharing racially hateful messages, demanding white privilege, you are also being heard and the bad news is that people are quietly sharing your posts and words of hate towards blacks, hispanics and asians, support of the KKK, Neo Nazi’s, White Power, through private DM’s, people are sharing your hatred with the very people within your own communities, some of you have businesses and I don’t believe that I need to explain what that can do to your business. What we are watching in the United States of America is that the minority groups are about to change, those that are racist and full of hate are going to become the minority sooner rather than later.

It’s we the people not we the white power, we the people are no longer going to tolerate racism, hatred, inequality and injustice towards a person of color and we must let our voices continue to be heard.

I cannot claim to know and understand the pain and suffering of people of color, but I am a mom and when I heard George Floyd cry out for his mom, it brought me to my knees. And although I cannot quite put into words what hearing a grown man being murdered, crying for mom truly feels like, any mother who watched that video would tell you, it was gut wrenching, painful and you can’t help but to feel it hit you hard in your heart and in your soul. It leaves you unable to walk away and not fight for change.

I have spent years fighting injustice through our judicial systems, fighting for the rights of victims and fighting a system that rewards the rich and the white.

George Floyd’s death will not be in vain, he will be the first person I think of anytime I prepare to address a Judge or prosecutor, his cry for his mom will not be forgotten, I will think of George Floyd and that cry will make my arguments about inequality and injustice even more powerful.

We must change, we must abolish systemic racism and inequality like our nation once abolished slavery.

Always remember 8 minutes and 46 seconds a human being suffered, struggling to breath and died an agonizing brutal death crying out for his mom all because he was black and that never should have happened.

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Washington, D.C. — a police officer punching an Australian cameraman and using his shield to strike him in the chest, while another officer uses a baton to hit the correspondent. Police were using tear gas, projectiles and mounted officers to forcefully scatter peaceful protesters near the White House, so Donald Trump could walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo opportunity.

Amelia Brace, the correspondent with Australia’s Channel 7: “They don’t care they are being indiscriminate, they were firing these rubber bullets at everyone. There’s tear gas now and we’re surrounded.”

On Friday, CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and the crew working with him were arrested live on air in Minneapolis.

All of this has been seen worldwide and has both the allies and adversaries of the United States watching in complete horror. They are falling witness to the fraying and crumbling of the United States while under no leadership.

The sight of officers repeatedly striking a foreign news crew has sent a chill down the world’s spine.

This is not the United States the world thought we were.

What perhaps was even more shocking was the President telling police to “dominate the streets,” a Black Hawk military helicopter was dispatched to fly low over the demonstrators in Washington, D.C., and the President suggested Governors were weak.

Ziya Meral, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank: “Now we are witnessing an America spiraling down into chaos, poor governance, social friction, poor policing and poor leadership.”

Ragıp Soylu, a correspondent with the Middle East Eye news outlet, tweeted: “Congrats, America! You have joined the Middle East nations where you can no longer peacefully protest outside the presidential palaces.”

China comments: The American hypocrisy – The U.S. calling out Beijing’s alleged attempts to curb freedoms in Hong Kong while seen to be trying to do something similar at home.

And New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was “horrified by what we’ve seen.”

I could go on and on but leaders everywhere from every corner of the world are watching our country fall apart at the hands of a lack of leadership.

The problem with Trump is pretty much tenfold here, he has a history of being a racist and of supporting racism, bullying and outrageous threats against anyone he does not agree with. He is the epitome of a narcissist and he is absolutely a bully when he wants his way, his mindset is “my way or the highway.”

That is not going to work this time, if Trump insists on sending in the military he is going to piss off an already pissed off public and then it will become all out war. People are tired of Trump and his outdated views on what society should be and is.

The world is watching our President throw fuel on an already out of control fire, they are watching him stir the pot, simmer the stew and brew up enough discontent, chaos, hatred and fear to all but ensure our nation is torn apart from the seams under the failing Trump Presidency.

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This morning in a teleconference with leaders across the US Trump attempted to bully his way through the call where the leaders truly needed support, understanding, empathy for their citizens and some understanding of the situation amid the protests sweeping now the entire world.

The role of a President is to lead his or her nation in good times and bad, through a crisis whether it be a health crisis such as Covid-19, or protests. Obama never fled to a secret bunker when protesters took to the streets, no he got up and pleaded with a grieving nation to stop the violence, he led us, you know like a leader should do.

Today, Trump had harsh, sometimes incoherent words for the leaders in states where protests turned violent over the weekend, calling them weak for not utilizing the National Guard. Trump’s absolute failure to understand how things work in real life is truly amazing to me. He seems to feel that states maintain order by using brute force, the very thing we are all against because it can potentially end up in more senseless deaths.

Trump has failed to address the nation and vow to end police brutality, much less suggest that it is time for racism to stop.

Our nation is sick, grieving and angry. What’s more is that we again see just how divided we are. When we needed real leadership over the weekend, in the White House our coward of a President hid in a bunker and the lights of the White House were turned off, like people do when they don’t want to hand out halloween candy.

Well Donald, this is not Halloween.

Trump’s Twitter feed has been it’s normal shit show of course. Trump has attacked Joe Biden, reporters, insulted leaders on the front lines of protests, and claimed federal authority he doesn’t have. He made a comment about “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” then claimed ignorance and the true meaning behind that statement.

This is a man who has been sued for his racism well before he became president, he is a known sexist, bigot and racist.

To be fair Trump initially condemned George Floyd’s killing, but since then there have been no statements intended to quell anger, bridge divisions, or heal the wounds that have been bleeding for decades. There have been no public appearances, either except that Trump traveled all the way to Florida to watch a SpaceX rocket launch on Saturday, but hasn’t quite managed to travel in front of cameras for a formal statement.

Leaders across the globe have been watching Trump’s failures this year, Covid-19, these protests and are referring to him as deranged and an idiot, and I have to say I couldn’t agree more.

As all of this continues the worry from many is that Trump is going to make matters much, much worse. Trump is a loose cannon who lacks empathy, he is a disgrace who seems to like to see our nation so deeply divided through police brutality and racism.

Police across the nation however are choosing to stand alongside protesters, marching with them, kneeling with them, supporting the movement which is highly commendable. Trump has urged both police and the national guard to harm protesters instead of attempting to bring the nation together, no because Donald Trump likes to see us divided, if you will recall one of his largest followings is gun toting racist scum. And he doesn’t want to lose those votes.

Trump is our biggest challenge as we face this but this does give Biden a chance – it did appear after all that he stood no chance but if he can rise above through this and prove that he can lead a nation that is so deeply hurt and divided, Trump’s days are numbered as the President of the United States.

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The United States Brace for More Protests and Unrest Across the Nation

George Floyd Protests Go From Peaceful to Violent

Cristal M Clark

After a Friday night that showed pure outrage at police brutality – erupting into rioting and unrest in cities across our country, authorities tried to reestablish order through an increased show of force. The Governors of 6 states, including Minnesota, where George Floyd was murdered in cold blood at the hands of a cop on Monday, called out national guard troops. Many cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Louisville, Columbia, Denver, Portland, Milwaukee and Columbus, imposed curfews in anticipation of a violent night ahead on Saturday.

Here in Denver the vibe was good for most of the day yesterday, the protests were peaceful yet the city felt the same thing many of the rest of us felt, something bad was brewing, the moods were changing into unrest and the fear of violence caused city leaders to ask for the national guard to come and to put the city on a curfew which did little to curb the violence that followed a day of peaceful protests.

The death of George Floyed is unfathomable, it’s 2020 why are we still falling witness to racism? Why are we still falling witness to the cold blooded murder of yet another black man at the hands of a cop? Let’s not forget however, not all cops are bad cops and good cops do in fact loath bad cops. Denver and all of Colorado has its share of some really good cops who if you ask them do not support police brutality in any form much less racist cops.

Many are wondering why the violence after a day of peaceful protests, it’s simple really, people are angry, incredibly angry and full of rage. They don’t care about the business they looted or burnt down, many of those businesses are coming out of a 2 month shutdown where they had already lost so much. I do however understand the anger, the sheer hatred behind the acts of violence believe it or not. Everyone is suffering from the fall out of the virus, people are upset, you add that to yet another senseless killing of a black man and it equals disaster.

This violence is happening across America from coast to coast and from big cities to small ones sadly. And it happened well beyond the major metropolitan areas, protesters clashed with police in cities including Tulsa, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; Albany, New York; Fargo, North Dakota; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Many of the rest of us, well we are sick of the racism too, we are tired of seeing black men die at the hands of a bad cop. I read the police report, it was absolute bullshit. An excuse filled report of utter and complete bullshit. The charges the prosecutor charged Derek Chauvin with should be released of the privilege of being a prosecutor immediately over the bullshit charge of 3rd degree murder a charge many have never seen or heard of before now. As for the Department of Justice heading up an investigation, no one has an ounce of faith in it’s head either, William Barr.

I support the protests, not the violence but when you sit back and look at everyone involved in the Judicial process here, it’s easy for me to understand the outrage, the angst, the anger and the violence.

Will justice really be served here? Judging from the charges that were filed against the killer Derek Chauvin, no justice will not truly be served here. Let’s also not forget that Derek Chauvin will no doubt hire an attorney who is going to argue that his client will not get a fair trial. Well, from where I am sitting George Floyd did not get a fair trial either now did he? The actuality here is that Derek Chauvin would really be tried by a jury of his peers here but the prosecutor who filed the charges did everything so as to ensure an avoidance of a trial and will be offering up a sweet plea deal to Derek. Anyone charged with murder or any other crime has a multitude of charges filed at one time the DA uses that leverage so as to plea down into a lessor charge just for the sake of obtaining a guilty plea from the defendant and forgoing an actual trial. It’s a notch in the DA’s belt. It is not, and I repeat NOT, about justice at all.

I have traveled the country and visited many courtrooms and offices of Judges and prosecutors protecting both the sanctity of our Judicial System and the rights of the innocent and victims. George Floyd appeared to be suffering a medical episode according to the officers own words, why the fuck would Derek have his knee firmly implanted on the throat of a man who appeared to be suffering from a medical condition? I have spent many years reminding those that work within the Judicial System of what their jobs truly are, the Judicial System was never designed to protect the wealthy, bad cops who kill innocent black men, to more severely punish the poor, to utilize the system to jail so many blacks, while letting whites who are charged with similar offences off lightly, yet the system fails virtually at every turn it can now doesn’t it?

The proof of that couldn’t be more clear with the charges against Derek Chauvin for the cold blooded murder of George Floyd.

So yes, while I do not condone the acts of violence these are individuals who already see the outcome and they are angry, they are outraged, they are hurting. They want the world to hear the pain that they are feeling, they want all eyes on our beloved country so the world can finally see the true shitshow of our judicial system and just how it favors whites over blacks, the wealthy over the poor and completely turns a blind eye to the victims, the families of the victims, the system promises to stand up for them, yet it blatantly turns a blind eye to them. The Judicial System here in the United States is not about justice at all, it’s about numbers and the ability to obtain a guilty plea, nothing more or less. These individuals want the world to see the police brutality here in the US, they want to world to watch as our system yet again fails to seek justice and favors whites over blacks, cops that murder over the black life that was lost.

I implore our President, William Barr and the entire Judicial System to start making changes, stop using the system to obtain a number or guilty plea, stop making a mockery of our Judicial System and start using it the way it was always meant to be used, start with the murder of George Floyd. Have enough pride to stand up and give George Floyd’s family and loved once the Justice they deserve for such a senseless murder.

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REvil also known as Sodinukai has managed to successfully hack a celebrity New York law firm and the hackers are claiming that they have dirt on US President Donald Trump.

The group has threatened Trump with publishing what they say are damaging emails should they not receive a ransom of $42 million. Just chump change right?

REvil has long been considered a terrorist group, they have a long and vibrant history of cyber attacks, earlier this year they hit UK’s Travelx who subsequently paid a $2.3 million ransom.

The group locks down systems, and then they exfiltrate data before encrypting it and use this as leverage to facilitate ransom payment. For those that refuse to pay up, the hackers publish documents from the stolen haul, just like when Tesla, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin got hit in an attack by a different group against a parts supplier earlier this year.

The FBI has for the first time every dubbed the ransom attack as a direct act of terrorism and REvil did not really care for being dubbed terrorists: “We read the position of the authorities. Declare this an act of terrorism. Your position is your choice. This will not affect our work in any way. It’s just that it can completely erase certain frames that we still observed. But now is not about that. Mr. Lawyer says that Donald has never been their client. And he says that we are bluffing. Oh well. The first part, with the most harmless information, we will post here.” And of course they did keep their word and published 169 harmless emails that mention Trump in one way or another.

In a new ransom note rant, the criminals said that they will in no uncertain terms “auction customer data every week,” in last name order on a dark web trading site. “This data will be bought either by the stars themselves, or various media and blackmail them then, or simply kind people with good intentions. We do not care. The main thing is we will get the money,” they vowed.

Then they took it a step further, the group taunted the FBI and its ability to “decipher elliptic cryptography,” referring to them as idiots. The REvil gang says it will “have fun watching with popcorn.”

The ransom note ends with the following warning to President Trump himself: “I would hurry up. In the place of your competitor, I would buy all the data and put it right at the start of the election. That would be fun. But you can get ahead of him.”

The reality is, what do they really have on the president? Could be a lot and it more than likely is nothing. Threatening the US president does not sit well with the Department of Justice, it entices them to hunt those in the group down and bring them to the United States for prosecution. I did however find the threat to Trump himself a rather bit hilarious, Joe Biden is not going to pay for any of the stolen goods on Trump and if he did, he would not know what to do with it, CNN on the other hand, they might be willing to pay for the stolen data just to get any dirt on Trump that they can.

The hackers have said that someone paid them for the stolen data however and not a soul knows who purchased the data much less what they intend on doing with the stolen data.

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Does everyone remember when news broke about the fitness app Strava, when it was revealed to be tracking and exposing U.S. military bases worldwide? Well another app seems to be doing pretty much the same thing. Untapped it would seem has been tracking check-ins at some rather interesting places – the Pentagon, Germany, and Greenland, it was also found to be tracking US Military, CIA including at a top secret CIA facility.

Untappd has 8 million users, including those in armed forces and intelligence agencies worldwide, the biggest following from the US and Europe. The app is used by beer drinkers to discover new bars, breweries, and beers. Users can rate beers, unlock badges, get directions to local events, and most importantly share that information with others.

Researchers with the group Bellingcat also discovered shared photos that included shots of government ID cards, documents, and military hardware which could be used to reconstruct the travel and work habits of military and intelligence personnel, including precise location capabilities.

The downside of any app that tracks you, be it fitness or beer users more often than not share too much information, and then the apps share too much about said users.

Researcher Foeke Postma was able to show how one individual utilizing the app shared a photo of a beer that Foeke Postma was able to use and geolocate it to a specific building at Camp Peary, pinpointing the exact location it was taken. Foeke also tracked the individual to Camp Peary, Virginia. Nicknamed “The Farm,” Camp Peary is a CIA facility used for field training and allegedly as a hub in the transport of suspected terrorists in case you were wondering.

Check-in’s seemed to fascinate the researchers because if this data fell into the wrong hands, because an intelligence agency could, you know, locate bars frequented by service members near military bases, or secret CIA facilities, maybe find out what the most popular beer there and then…of course, send spies to ingratiate as fellow beer lovers with those personnel, ordering their favorite beer and of course hopefully getting someone to spill secrets.

I’ve said this before though apps like this one and any other including social media serve as a collection point for intelligence agencies and hackers who are seeking valuable information. Social networks collect more information than users are often aware of, and that data can be used by third parties as well as compromised.

We do like our apps that track our fitness, where we post something from, our beer likes and dislikes and those apps do tend to overshare our information in unimaginable ways sometimes.

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Regardless of what many think, reopening states is not going to provide the economic recovery many had hoped for and that is for a number of small reasons that once all added together point to some darker times ahead.

Consumers are reluctant to spend, many businesses are still unable to open, of those that are, they are learning rather painfully that they will not be able to employ the workforce they once had and of those that can, many of those employees will be working from home, some companies are choosing to shut down entire offices and move everyone to a work from home environment which hit’s a rental market no one has been talking about. Many bars are going to be forced to remain closed simply because they are unable to accommodate social distancing rules, of those that do open, they will lose the profit they need due to the rules and limits on overall capacity post Covid-19 will allow, the same goes for restaurants. And event’s, venues and sports well I think everyone is getting the picture on those.

The New York Times used the online research platform SurveyMonkey and found that roughly 60% of the participants said they expected the next 5 years to be characterized by “periods of widespread unemployment or depression.”

A survey from the University of Michigan last week found that consumers’ assessment of current economic conditions had improved modestly in early May, but that their view of the future was just as grim as those surveyed by the New York Times and if you look carefully you are seeing the same from across several media outlets and universities.

As far as consumer confidence goes, that speaks volumes. Even in the financial industry we are seeing news and reports that lean towards the same sentiments. While we can get money in, we are finding it difficult to turn it around and get it back out on the streets. One of the contributing factors is that right now even lenders are skittish about lending to anyone who is not employed or going back to work for the same employer and borrowers have money right now, they are reluctant to spend what they have and they do not need a loan.

In testimony before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, both warned that further job losses were likely and they both can’t seem to agree on policies that will foster growth and repair our damaged economy.

And to make matters even worse, economists, who once expected a swift, “V-shaped” recovery, now say unemployment is likely to remain elevated for years.

So while many clamor to reopen states and businesses they didn’t really win anything because this is going to be rolling along for quite a number of years. As construction continues, those footing the bill for said construction are going to be left holding a bag of absolute garbage they will be unable to lease, rent or sell for years to come. Commercial Real Estate is going to get hit hard and with little recourse available these guys stand to lose virtually everything.

It’s time to address the issues of wages not being in line with the cost of living because until that situation becomes resolved we are not going to get ahead of this mess, then we need to look to bring jobs back to America and to stop giving tax breaks to large corporations who move jobs overseas or who simply get a big tax break for employing so many workers in America and take a hard fucking look at what those workers are paid in comparison to those that own or who are on a board of said companies. Why the fuck we would give Amazon, WalMart and many others the tax breaks we do is beyond me, they don’t pay people shit. As for bailouts to any corporation or company, yes they must be held accountable to misusing any said bailout so as to line the pockets of executives and board members.

The point is that working American’s are sick of the abuse of corporations, the banking industry, the airline industry with each bail out they receive. It benefits no workers but does benefit the board and the executives. That is disgusting.

Every single little guy is taking a proverbial beating financially right now, it’s time the big players did their part and shared in that financial hit.

Most importantly, regardless of Trump’s pushing and promises, the economy is not coming back anytime soon.

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As bars and restaurants start to reopen owners are facing new challenges due to social distancing rules, many owners are worried that the rules could force them to close permanently.

Because of the rules across the country many bars and restaurants are being forced to service less than 50% or less of the capacity they can serve which also means they do not need as many employees. In fact the rules go beyond this industry as offices have reopened many employees learned rather quickly that what they assumed was a temporary lay-off is now a permanent one due the size of the offices employers are simply unable to bring back the staff they once had and many will choose to bring back the lower paid staff over the seasoned and qualified staff that they had due to loss of funds through the statewide shutdowns.

For the bar and restaurant industry, they cannot make a profit because of the social distancing rules for one reason, restaurants and bars need volume and traffic to make them work.

The math that holds this industry together is pretty simple. Margins were already razor thin, which then forced eateries and bars to pack in customers every night, especially on the weekends, in order to stay open. In the toughest markets, that means multiple waves of guests, and tables that are pushed together as closely as possible. Social Distancing rules do not accommodate that. What’s more is that consumers are still not confident enough to really want to frequent the eateries and bars as often as they once might have.

That equals no profits.

If you have seating for 200 in some states you will only be able to accommodate 25% of that, and that’s if you can accommodate that 25% while also socially distancing your customers. To make matters worse for small bars and venues it will be even more difficult to manage and accommodate the rules and still stay afloat while serving less than half of what they had been.

All of this points to many of the bars, restaurants and venues we’ve been used to seeing and going to, are now going to be a thing of the past. Here in Denver it seems that every week we learn of more choosing to close for good because they simply will not be able to make it past the shut down when they are unable to fully reopen like that once did. Bars who are used to packing people in, sometimes shoulder to shoulder are going to feel the hit even worse.

All of this illustrates an even more grim future for the entertainment and live event industry, who are most likely going to be the last thing to be brought back. That industry is taking an even bigger hit than originally anticipated and those gig workers are finding themselves out of the opportunity to make and earn a living. Many are now hoping that fans will pay for virtual shows and albums but again, with consumer spending at an all time low, it is unlikely these smaller time artists will see the numbers they so greatly need from fans.

As we all look for some sense of normalcy and I hope many of you find it, we need to keep those that are still being held in limbo in mind and offer our empathy and support as much as possible.

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Today was not a good day for US President Donald Trump and his Coronavirus Response team, they were dealt multiple blows today, Dr. Rick Bright’s testimony to Congress with regards to this administration’s response to coronavirus to Time Magazine’s scathing new cover with regards to Trump’s order to open the United States Back up.

The story more or less rips Trump and his administration’s fumbled and foolish response to the public health crisis along with the administration’s blatant and total disregard for the health, safety and welfare of this nation’s citizens.

It also explains how the U.S. “risks making matters worse” as dozens of states prepare to ease lockdown restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the contagion.

And to back up Time Magazine’s editorial – ousted top Health and Human Services official Dr. Rick Bright, who testified today before Congress that the Trump administration’s timeline for a coronavirus vaccine is likely too optimistic, unrealistic and that there’s “no plan” to mass produce and distribute one.

Dr. Bright did not just stop at that either. He had quite a bit to say today. Dr. Bright informed Congress that he had warned the administration about shortages of personal protective equipment and that he faulted President Donald Trump and senior officials for having minimized the outbreak early on – which had deadly consequences.

He warned against opening up too quickly and without any real plan, each state, city and municipality is running wild and doing things differently. He expressed deep concern over the United States not having a unified plan so as to reopen states and worried that will have even more deadly consequences.

But Dr. Bright’s concerns were previously met with complete incompetence and blatant ignorance.

“I believe Americans need to be told the truth, we did not forewarn people. We did not train people. We did not educate them on social distancing and wearing a mask as we should have in January and February. All those forewarnings, all those educational opportunities, for the American public could have had an impact in further slowing this outbreak and saving more lives.”

Dr. Bright testified that he raised red flags about the lack of N95 masks in the national stockpile in January which helped lead to a shortage in protective equipment for health care workers. As a result, he said, “lives were endangered, and I believe lives were lost.”

“Not only that, we were forced to procure the supplies from other countries without the right quality standards, so even our doctors and nurses in the hospitals today are wearing N95-marked masks from other countries that are not providing the sufficient protection that a U.S.-standard N95 mask would provide them.”

Dr. Bright warned lawmakers that even if one could be ready, there’s no strategy for mass production.

“If you can imagine the scenario this fall or winter, maybe even early next spring, when the vaccine becomes available, there’s no one company that can produce enough for our country or for the world. It’s going to be limited supplies, we need to have a strategy and plan in place now to make sure that we can not only fill that vaccine, make it, distribute it, but administer it in a fair and equitable plan.”

“We do not have that yet, and it is a significant concern,” he said.

He also warned that the administration needs to develop a comprehensive, well-implemented national response plan heading into the fall. Without one, he said, the coronavirus outbreak could combine with the seasonal flu later this year to create “the darkest winter in modern history.”

In closing Dr. Bright had this to say: “Our window of opportunity is closing if we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities.”

Dr. Bright is not wrong, at every turn Trump and his administration have failed, have provided misleading information, tout theory as scientific fact and have shown a blatant disregard to the lives of the people of this nation. Trump and his administration will go against the orders of his health experts and then sit around and pretend shit is not falling apart when it is. Dr. Bright hit the nail on the head in his closing argument to Congress today, what’s more in watching the hearing very few in Congress seemed to be on Donald Trump and his administration’s side.

I actually watched the testimony in its entirety in shock. Our US President is putting lives in danger and does not give a shit at all. He did not when Coronavirus started and he hasn’t changed his mind at all. On social media citizens are voicing deep concerns over Trump and his administration’s handling of the Virus as well as concern over Governors and Mayors who are utilizing so called experts that don’t really know shit about day to day life like the rest of us.

As this week comes to a close I would imagine Trump and his administration will be rife with snide, rude and insulting remarks about Dr. Bright and Time Magazine, because they know everything each said, is the absolute truth and nothing but that.